Lost Christmas Spirit
by LuvversLuvvie
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha hates Christmas. He hates the season, he hates the 'Christmas Cheer', he hates how people expect him to be nicer because of this annoying season, and he especially hates those who try to shove the season down his throat. He is practically one step from shouting out 'Bah Humbug' But one year he meets a blonde man dressed up as a happy elf who cheerfully asks him to do


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**So I am one of THOSE Christmas fanatics, hahaha. I start the Christmas season before Thanksgiving (privately to not offend those close-hearted believers of only-AFTER-Thanksgiving-Christmas-Season), I dress only in holiday colors and accessories during the season, I listen exclusively to Christmas songs and force others to join after Black Friday, still sit on Santa's lap despite now being 20, decorate the hell out of the places I live—both dorm room and home—, I wish everyone Happy Holidays when I am out dressed up all Christmassy, I donate at least a dollar to every Salvation Army bucket I pass, I watch all of the Christmas classics before Christmas, and I fiercely keep almost all of my personal Christmas Traditions! I am big on spreading the Christmas Cheer, so here is a special Christmas One-Shot for you!**

**Summary: Sasuke Uchiha hates Christmas. He hates the season, he hates the 'Christmas Cheer', he hates how people expect him to be nicer because of this annoying season, and he especially hates those who try to shove the season down his throat. He is practically one step from shouting out 'Bah Humbug!' But one year he meets a blonde man dressed up as a happy elf who cheerfully asks him to donate money so others can enjoy this wonderful Christmas season.**

**Onwards with the story!**

* * *

The day was Saturday December 1st, and Sasuke Uchiha was _already_ fed up with Christmas.

Sasuke swore that the damn 'Christmas Season' kept starting earlier and earlier! He could remember the days when the blasted holiday did not dare rear its head around the corner until after Thanksgiving and he only had to deal with all of its annoying qualities for thirty or so days. But it seemed as if those days were officially over.

Sure, there were people who, like Sasuke though for different reasons, believed that the Christmas Season should not start until the made up 'holiday' Black Friday, but that kind was dying out as children and damn Christmas fanatics took over and did not have the decency to keep their 'Christmas Spirit' to themselves and leave everyone else the hell alone.

Sasuke had already seen stores setting up their Christmas decorations almost as soon as the Halloween decorations were taken down and it annoyed the hell out of him. He _hated_ Christmas and these stores were forcing him to stomach other people's _love_ for the holiday way before what should be allowed. He was not religious, but surely there would be people of other religions that would get offended and make the stores stop shoving Christmas down their throats?

The holiday was way too commercialized for Sasuke's tastes. Wasn't Christmas supposed to religious? About the birth of Jesus Christ or something like that? Yet here people were, seemingly worshipping Santa Claus rather than the religious figure the holiday was created for. Again, Sasuke was not religious and was not offended, but merely annoyed because he could not walk a block through the city without a Santa Clause waving at him with his gloved hand waving at him in a faux-Nazi pose. But having Santa all over the place was apparently acceptable because he was a part of the cultural—commercialized—portion of Christmas and therefore not religiously offensive.

The Uchiha internally groaned. Now that Thanksgiving and that useless 'holiday' Black Friday were over, more and more stores and people would start celebrating their 'Christmas Spirit' in earnest.

That meant that there would be more whiney children demanding in such loud voices for their oblivious or equally as loud parents to buy them things. There would be more people uselessly smiling or greeting him because of 'Christmas Spirit' and expecting him to return the favor. And worst of all, petty and brainless women would get violently—or at least loudly—offended whenever Sasuke would not smile back at them. All because of this stupid holiday!

That was certainly on his thoughts as Sasuke drove to the local supermarket, Ichiraku's Market. Despite his status as vice president and an influential board member of his company Uchiha Corps where his brother was the CEO as well as president, and despite Ichiraku's Market being known as a bargain brand type of supermarket, Sasuke quite enjoyed shopping at the store. Or at least, he enjoyed the proximity the supermarket was from the office to his penthouse apartment and that there were less pretentious people shopping there than one would typically find in a high-end grocery store advertising name brands and only 'the best' selections.

Sasuke parked his car in the parking lot and as soon as he closed his door, he internally groaned; Uchihas do not outwardly groan. He could hear an annoying bell ringing; the sign that there was somebody using 'Christmas Spirit' to beg for money, or 'donations'.

Sasuke dug his hands into his coat pockets and walked quickly, not wanting to be bothered by the Salvation Army person in a red apron and Santa hat demand him for a donation for their red bucket while ringing that annoying bell.

The Uchiha kept an eye on the bell-ringer while he walked to the store to make sure that they would not bother him, and he was surprised by what he saw.

He was expecting to see a street bum; someone with no proper job, someone overweight with a scraggly beard and dirty clothes with a red apron and Santa hat thrown on to appear 'proper' halfheartedly ringing that damn bell and expecting others to 'donate to the cause' and shouting at them if they ignored them.

But what he saw was almost the complete opposite of that. He saw a thin man dressed up as an elf—_an elf_—who could not have been more than twenty-six; his own age.

This elf was dressed in an outfit that seemed thrown together: green sweatpants, black boots, a green jacket that seemed to be hand-decorated with trees, stars, and mini Santas with fuzzy white trimmings, and an elf hat with comical elf ears sewn to the sides.

The elf guy _was_ ringing a bell—one with hand painted hollies it seemed—but he did not have a scraggly beard, an overweight belly, or a red apron signifying his Salvation Army donation status. His bucket was also unexpected as it was green rather than red. The guy was not ringing his bell half-heartedly either, or even furiously ringing the bell to gain people's unwilling attention, but rather attempting—or succeeding as far as Sasuke could tell—to ring his bell to the tunes of Christmas Carols.

The guy was also greeting everyone with an infuriating smile. The guy smiled so widely that the three whisker marks—or scars?—on his tanned cheeks spread with the smile. His shockingly blue eyes sparked with happiness whenever someone would donate to his green bucket or whenever someone would smile back at him; especially for a child.

As Sasuke walked past the elf guy to go into the store, the elf guy gave him a smile; one Sasuke did not return.

While Sasuke shopped, he had to keep himself from breaking his emotionless expression and groaning aloud—something unacceptable for an Uchiha—because not only were the isles decorated with Christmas garlands, but the store was also playing Christmas songs over the loudspeakers.

He went by as usual shopping for his necessary groceries, trying his best to ignore the overly commercialized Christmas decorations and songs that were not present the week before. It did not take him long to finish his shopping, it never did; he lived alone so he was only shopping for himself. It _did_ take a little longer than usual, though, but only because there was a larger number of people shopping than usual, but the people were crowding around bargains that were at an even lower price than usual; probably leftover from Black Friday the day before.

As he was finishing up with paying, the brunette woman at the cashier smiled at him and said, "Thank you for shopping at Ichiraku's Market and supporting us on Small-Business-Saturday!"

Sasuke repressed another groan; 'Small Business Saturday'? They made _another_ useless holiday? This was getting ridiculous.

Instead, Sasuke merely nodded as he grabbed his bags and made his way out of the store.

When he exited, he was once again greeted with the annoying sound of the elf guy's bell tinkling the tune of 'jingle bells'. He was intent on ignoring the man like before, but it turned out to be futile.

"Happy Holidays, sir!"

Sasuke glared at the man and tried to continue on his way.

"Would you like to cast a donation?" the man asked brightly, gesturing towards his green bucket that already had much cash in it.

Sasuke tried to ignore him, but the guy continued, happy as can be, "I can assure you that it is for a good cause! I can explain it to you, if you want."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, trying to leave as soon as he could and escape all this Christmas garbage.

"So does that mean you'll donate?" The guy's blue eyes sparkled with excitement as his whole face lit up.

Sasuke had tried to repress himself, but the combination of his annoyance for this whole damn holiday along with this annoying guy dressed in a ridiculous elf outfit continuously pestering him for his money made him snap.

"NO!" Sasuke shouted, "I will not be 'donating' any of _my_ hard earned money for this 'good cause' of yours! This is all nothing but a sham and _you_ are nothing more than a public menace! I would bet that you have set this all up so that you could scam everyone and steal all of this cash afterwards because you cannot hold down a decent job and have no future!"

As soon as Sasuke had finished shouting at the guy, there was a tense silence. The guy had his head bowed down so the trimmings of his elf hat were hiding his eyes.

While the silence continued, Sasuke became increasingly aware of where they were. While there was no one at the store exit while the Uchiha was shouting, but there was a car that entered the parking lot and he was sure that people were about to exit the store.

He was about to beginning to wonder if the elf guy was crying when he looked up with a large smile on his face.

"So does that mean you WON'T be donating?" he asked in a cheerful voice.

"Hn!" Sasuke grunted angrily out of annoyance as he gripped his bags harder and left for his car to go home.

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Monday Saturday 3rd, and Sasuke was at work and annoyingly frustrated.

He had walked in on more than seven people while he was performing his bimonthly productivity assessments and found them shopping online. Each one of them had rattled something about 'Cyber Monday'; apparently _another_ made up post-Thanksgiving holiday made up for the Christmas propaganda.

As punishment for shopping online rather than working, he told them that they would skip their next paycheck. They had all given him horrified expressions until he gave them an Uchiha Glare; that made them start working at a furious pace again.

As if the employee's insubordination was not enough, their horrified expressions had pissed Sasuke off as well. They should have been _grateful_ that Sasuke was being so generous! He should have _fired_ them for not doing their jobs. He could have even docked their pay permanently! But all he did was to take away _one_ paycheck. They should have been on their knees thanking him for being so lenient.

Sasuke huffed as he rearranged himself on his chair at his desk in his office on the top floor of the Uchiha Corp building. It was not as comfy as when he had bought it now that he was so frustrated.

He internally sighed since finding comfort while sitting down was futile, so he stood up and walked over to the wall facing outside, which doubled as a very large window. He looked outside, hoping to calm himself down from his frustration at his employees.

It was working, too. Sasuke could feel himself being calmed as he looked at the view. He lost himself in the blue of the sky.

Blue like the eyes of that elf guy…

…dammit…

Just like that, his newfound calm demeanor disappeared.

Sasuke internally scowled. That elf guy seemed to be practically the embodiment of the thing that annoyed Sasuke the most: the public's insistent Christmas Spirit. Who did that elf guy think he was? Shoving demands to spread cheer down Sasuke's throat like that? It was infuriating! Sasuke was right to tell that elf guy off.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed when he remembered the elf guy's expression after Sasuke had given him a rightful piece of his mind…or more like his lack of expression that Sasuke could see.

But that did not matter. The elf guy was a public menace! Sasuke was doing everyone a favor.

Sasuke remembered wondering if the elf guy was going to cry, and remembered thinking to himself that a sad expression would not match on such a cheery face…not that he would admit to it…

That did not matter, though! Sasuke did not care.

But still…maybe he _was_ a little harsh…

And…and _maybe_ Sasuke should not have vented his anger at the elf guy…the guy really had not done much of anything to directly anger Sasuke. The elf guy just drew the final straw, and that might not have been entirely his fault…

Sasuke sighed; an actual, external sigh.

Maybe…maybe he should visit that supermarket or something…he would not apologize; after all, Uchihas do not openly apologize. He would just donate money or something to that bucket and all would be well.

Confident with his decision, Sasuke went back to work. He sat down at his chair, which seemed a lot more comfy since making his choice, and checked a few e-mails before finishing up some paperwork.

Later, he did yet another round of productivity assessment. Sasuke found _five_ more people trying to discreetly shop online. They too got the same punishment as the rest and had given him the same horrified expression. But funnily enough, it did not bother Sasuke as much as it did earlier in the day.

Somehow the idea of seeing that elf guy later kept Sasuke from getting frustrated again.

So by the time he got off of work, Sasuke was actually a little excited to go to Ichiraku's Market.

When he drove up to the store, he was slightly surprised—if not miffed—to see that the elf guy was not in front of the supermarket. The bucket was not there either!

Wanting to figure out what was going on; Sasuke parked his car and headed inside.

Once Sasuke was inside the store, he was hit by a wave of Christmas.

The store was still decorated, the music was still playing Christmas carols, there were employees with festive accessories added to their uniformed vests, people were wishing each other 'Happy Holidays', and there were those red flowers scattered here and there that made the store smell like Christmas if Sasuke had to identify what he was smelling.

Sasuke tried to keep himself from feeling overly annoyed as he walked to the nearest employee at an empty cash register. He walked to the end and not where the line would be so it would be clear that he was not buying anything yet.

The cashier noticed him and smiled. Sasuke noticed that it was the same girl from when he had last shopped here at the supermarket.

"Happy Holidays!" the girl chirped, "My name is Ayame. Do you need any help today?"

Not bothering to return the silly greeting, Sasuke went straight to the point and asked, "Where is that elf guy with the green bucket from Saturday?"

Sasuke was expecting to have to explain himself, or to repeat himself for the seemingly random question for a random employee, but—as if expecting this question, or having been asked this frequently—the Ayame's eyes lit up as she said, "Naruto? Oh, he doesn't set up the donation bucket during the week. Only on weekends."

"What? Why?" Sasuke asked, a little miffed that he could not see the elf guy—Naruto was it?—and donate some money to make everything blow over.

Ayame smiled as she explained, "The donations bucket that Naruto sets up isn't for the Salvation Army so he can't ask for other people to volunteer for him. Or maybe he can…" Ayame's smile faded a little as a thoughtful expression crossed her face, "We're not exactly sure what the official rules are, but he says that he wants to keep it on the safe side." Her smile returned as she continued explaining, "But anyway, Naruto set up the donations bucket for the orphanage that he grew up in!"

When he heard that, Sasuke suddenly felt a little bit like a jerk. He remembered how he had accused this Naruto guy of planning to steal all of the money he had collected, and now Sasuke had learned that Naruto himself had set up the bucket to help out orphans.

Sasuke did not have much time to dwell upon it as Ayame continued, "But like I said before, that isn't an official Salvation Army donation bucket, so Naruto is keeping things safe and only volunteering himself and only setting up his bucket during the weekends."

"Is that so…" Sasuke mumbled, feeling even worse about his outburst.

Not noticing anything, Ayame nodded, "He's been doing this every year for about…" she paused and started to count her fingers, "ten years! Since he's started working here when he turned fifteen! He asks for weekends off so he can set it up and Dad always agrees as long as he works weekdays."

Sasuke could only nod.

Then Ayame said, "If you have any more questions about his donation bucket, Naruto is working now. So, did you still want to see him?"

Sasuke nodded again before he could stop himself, even though he had no idea what he could say to Naruto.

Ayame smiled and said, "Then follow me!" as she turned the light off of her register to signal that it was closed. Then she motioned for Sasuke to follow as she left her register.

As they walked through the supermarket, Sasuke wondered what he would—or could—say to Naruto. The two walked past all the isles until they reached a side-section of a market called 'Ichiraku's Café', which was a small little coffee area with a couple of small tables. It had always surprised Sasuke to see such an area, but he also always saw it practically filled with shoppers, so he never questioned it since the café area was an obvious success for the supermarket.

"Here we are!" Ayame announced, gesturing towards the café. "Naruto is covering for someone here, but it is almost time for his break in case things are too busy and you still have questions."

Sasuke nodded and said his thanks for her help. Smiling, Ayame went back to her register or something and left Sasuke alone.

Deciding that he might as well speak to Naruto or something, Sasuke got in line.

While waiting, he got a better look at the guy behind the counter taking orders who he assumed was Naruto. The guy had the same whisker marks on his tanned cheeks and his eyes were the same shade of alarming blue, so it MUST be Naruto.

Without the silly elf hat on, Sasuke noticed that Naruto had the brightest blonde hair he had ever seen on a person. Sasuke also noticed that Naruto was sporting a very large smile, like when he was greeting people on Saturday.

Good. That probably meant that Naruto held no hard feelings so this whole thing would blow over quickly. This Naruto guy _was_ pretty attractive without the ridiculous but festive costume on…maybe Sasuke could use this as a good favor of sorts and get the guy's number…

Sasuke was a gay man who had great tastes, and he would bet a reasonable amount that _Naruto_ would taste _amazing_.

Confident that he would get laid tonight, or at least get the guy's number—after all, who would turn down _Sasuke Uchiha?_—Sasuke walked forwards so he could place his order.

Naruto was smiling brightly as he said, "Happy Holidays! How can I help…_you!_" Naruto's smile wiped off his face as his eyes flashed with recognition.

Sasuke was not expecting this.

"What do _you_ want?" Naruto sneered in a low voice, unconsciously leaning on the counter so no one could hear his accusing tone.

When Sasuke did not answer immediately, Naruto's amazingly blue eyes narrowed, "What? Nothing to say? And here I thought you were just _full_ of words of wisdom."

Unused to being accused of something that he felt guilty—or the Uchiha equivalent of feeling guilty—about, Sasuke said "About that…"

"Save it." Naruto practically hissed at him, "I don't wanna hear it."

Before Sasuke could say anything to defend himself, Naruto said in a curt tone, "Your order?" His tone of voice and body language told Sasuke that Naruto would not listen to anything else besides a coffee order.

So Sasuke ordered some black coffee and sat down at one of the quaint little tables—ignoring the little tree on it—and waited. Ayame _did_ say that Naruto's break was going to be soon, after all.

He watched Naruto while he drank his coffee; merely because he had nothing better to do and not because Naruto was simply attractive in his green shirt and red uniform vest with holiday pins on decorated on it. Naruto offered every one of the patrons an excited holiday greeting and spoke briefly with almost all of them. But Sasuke was not jealous. Not jealous at all.

_Finally_ another employee with red vest—not as decorated at Naruto's was—tapped Naruto on the shoulder and signaled that they would take over. Clapping the employee on the shoulder, Naruto gave them a smile and grabbed a hot chocolate for himself.

As soon as he left the counter to search for a table, Naruto saw Sasuke. Blue eyes narrowed as Naruto stomped over to Sasuke.

"Look, man. I dunno what the _hell_ your problem is, but you need to leave." Naruto growled lowly, not letting other customers hear what he was saying.

"All I wanted to say—" Sasuke started to say, but he was interrupted.

"_Now_!" Naruto growled dangerously.

Not wanting to cause a scene—and _only_ because of that and not because Sasuke was unused to being the one ordered around—Sasuke decided to leave.

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Wednesday December 5th and Sasuke was trying very hard to focus on his work.

He just could not focus! He had been trying to do his work for the past two days to do his work, but his thoughts kept going back to Naruto.

He had dual Narutos in his head. The happy-go-lucky elf guy he had first met who had the infectious smile that had greeted everyone around him so warmly, and the guy he had pissed off who glared at him with such obvious hatred.

Sasuke would try to work, then the image of either one of the Narutos would pop in his head and he just could no longer concentrate.

The only consolation for Sasuke was that his brother, Itachi, was rarely at the office as he considered the office stifling; preferring his own home office back at Uchiha Manor which was now Itachi's ever since his and Sasuke's parents had died.

Itachi had been like that ever since their parents' death. After the shock had worn off, Itachi had abandoned a portion of his innate Uchiha responsibility and after he had named himself president and CEO with Sasuke as his vice-president as well as a board member once he graduated college.

After Sasuke took his office, Itachi had left his; though still held his position as president. Itachi preferred to work from the Manor and only occasionally visit the office to properly scare the employees. He always said that _one_ Uchiha was enough to scare everyone to submission; _two_ Uchihas would overwhelm them.

Of course, Sasuke had no trouble with this. He did not appreciate his brother's company much, or at all. They rarely spoke other than business talk after their parents had passed.

Great. NOW he was thinking about Naruto, AND Itachi.

Though admittedly, thinking about Naruto was more enjoyable; annoyingly frustrating as it may be.

Sasuke grumbled lowly under his breath. He would NOT openly admit that he wanted to see Naruto's smile aimed at him…maybe think that to himself…but DEFINITELY not out loud.

But he probably would never get a smile like that judging by the glare Naruto had given him.

That glare could have rivaled an Uchiha Glare.

Sasuke would also never admit this out loud either, but he really hated being scrutinized by that glare. It made him feel _guilt_; or the Uchiha form of 'guilt'.

Then Sasuke remembered: he never _did_ donate some money to Naruto's cause, or even explain himself. That needed to change.

Deciding that it was close enough to closing time, Sasuke left the office.

No one questioned Sasuke as he left. After all, he was an Uchiha; and his glare warded off anyone who may have glanced at him.

It did not take long at all for Sasuke to go from work to Ichiraku's Market. After all, it was about half the distance between work and home for Sasuke.

He parked his car and headed inside again, noticing once again that the bucket was not set up. He had a fleeting wonder if Naruto would even be at work…and that he had left work early and driven here all for nothing.

But then he remembered what that Ayame chick had said: that Naruto could get weekends off to set up his donation bucket as long as he worked weekdays.

Feeling relieved—if Uchihas could feel 'worry' in the first place—Sasuke continued inside.

Once inside, Sasuke walked over to Ayame's station like last time. When she saw him, her eyes sparked with recognition; THANKFULLY neither one of malice or of lust.

"Happy Holidays!" she greeted once more, "What are you doing back here so soon?"

"I'm here to see Naruto." Sasuke answered in his usual, emotionless tone. He hoped that it appeared as nonchalant as he thought it did in his head so that it appeared that nothing had happened between himself and Naruto the other day besides good things.

Ayame's smile widened, "Omigosh! Did he ask you out?"

So Naruto _was_ gay. Sasuke had briefly wondered about that. But this was not the time for that as Sasuke was struck momentarily speechless by her conclusion.

"Oh! Oh! Or did _you_ ask him out?" Ayame gushed, clearly half a step away from squealing. Great. So she was one of _those_ fangirls.

But Sasuke could use this to his advantage. So he pressed a finger to his lips and said, "Not yet. I was going to surprise him and ask today."

Ayame looked like she was about to squeal, but that would be too annoying so Sasuke mimed 'shush'ing her as if this was going to be a grand surprise. Which, in a way, it could be. She looked slightly admonished, but mostly excited at the prospect of Sasuke asking Naruto out.

"Now, do you know where I can find him?" Sasuke asked.

Ayame nodded frantically and once again turned off her cash register station light and motioned for Sasuke to follow her. She led him down a couple of isles, then turned around to face him with an excited expression. It made Sasuke almost regret telling her that he 'planned to ask Naruto out'.

"He's in this isle!" Ayame stage whispered, gesturing towards the isle behind her, "Naruto is on restock"

Sasuke nodded his understanding, and then waited for her to leave; feigning that he wanted this to be a private moment. Which he did, but not for the reason Ayame thought as she winked at him when she left.

After she left and Sasuke was alone, he entered the isle. His eyes immediately found Naruto with his black pants, green shirt, and decorated red uniform vest.

He walked up next to Naruto, who was indeed restocking the shelves with store brand ramen.

"Happy Holidays!" Naruto greeted in what must have been an automatic way, "I'll be with you in a minute, sir."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted to let the other know that he had heard him.

It took a moment, but Naruto had finally finished restocking the Ichiraku's Ramen.

When he was finished, Naruto turned to face him. And glared.

Before the blonde could say anything, Sasuke spoke, trying to lift the mood, "The last time I was here, you were at the café, and now you are on restock. You are all over the place."

Naruto crossed his arms as he said scathingly, "What? Surprised? Well contrary to _popular_ belief, I DO have a job."

Sasuke internally winced. He supposed he deserved that.

"Look, I just wanted to explain myself." Sasuke said.

"I already said to save it." Naruto hissed at him.

"I—" Sasuke started, but was interrupted again.

"—And I'm pretty sure I had told you to leave the last time! I don't want your excused or any pity. You're just an ass who figured that you'd use me to alleviate your frustration on in your Chain of Screaming." Naruto whispered lowly, obviously keeping the conversation just between themselves.

"No, I—" Sasuke tried to deny, but did not have anything to say; not that it mattered, as he was interrupted once again.

"Now _leave_ and don't bother me here again or else I'll call for security." Naruto demanded as he returned to restocking the ramen.

Sasuke once again found himself leaving the market by the blonde's order.

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Saturday, December 8th, and Sasuke was determined to finally donate money to that damn donation bucket and finally have everything over with.

Sasuke had had Naruto on his mind ever since he had left Ichiraku's Market, and not just because of the so-called 'guilt' Sasuke had felt, but because of Naruto himself.

Sasuke had never met anybody like Naruto. The vast majority—_vast_—of people would bend over backwards to have Sasuke visit them not once, but _twice_! Most people would be so stunned that Sasuke was there in front of them that they would agree with almost whatever he said. The majority of people would just let Sasuke make up an explanation—no matter how bad of an excuse—and leave it at that; _especially_ if Sasuke was willing to pay them money.

But Naruto was not like the vast majority of people. Naruto had glared at him with the same level of hatred as most women stare at Sasuke with lust. Naruto had not allowed Sasuke to speak not once but _twice_! And Sasuke was willing to bet his comfy office chair that Naruto would not have accepted his money.

All this, coupled with how attractive Naruto was, made Sasuke determined to at least get the guy's number, or maybe take him on a date.

So that made Sasuke drive, once again, to Ichiraku's Market. He parked once again and when he exited the car, he was pleased—and for once not annoyed—to hear a little bell tinkling the signal that Naruto had indeed set up his donations bucket outside the supermarket.

Before approaching the supermarket, Sasuke took out his wallet. He internally debated how much he should donate before decided on a plan. Then he walked towards the store entrance/exit.

Naruto was, as expected, wearing his elf costume; complete with the elf hat. He was also greeting everyone in the same manner as he was last weekend; smiling brightly and wishing everyone happy holidays. Naruto was also ringing his bell to various Christmas carols just like last weekend.

By the time Sasuke had walked up, there was no one else nearby.

Naruto was rearranging something on his costume when Sasuke had approached and did not notice him right away. When he did, Naruto glared once more.

"What?" he asked in a terse tone. It had a lower level of animosity than before, and Sasuke attributed this to how Naruto was in his Christmas element, or at least in his elf costume, and was therefore in better spirits than before.

Rather than speaking, because he figured it would be futile, Sasuke instead dropped some cash into the bucket.

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto peered into the bucket; probably looking to see if he was being scammed with monopoly money or something. Sasuke smirked to himself. That was exactly what he had wanted Naruto to do.

The blonde in question, whose hair was covered up by his hat, snapped his head back up and stared at Sasuke with wide, blue eyes when he had seen that Sasuke had donated fifty dollars.

Meeting Naruto's gaze, Sasuke dropped another ten dollar bill into the green donations bucket.

"Wha—" Naruto asked, cutting himself off as he darted his head up and down between the bucket and Sasuke.

"Go out with me." Sasuke ordered as he dropped another ten dollar bill into the donations bucket.

Naruto's glare returned tenfold at this and said, "What?! I'm not some common whore who you can buy off!"

Sasuke internally winced. He had not meant his asking Naruto out to be interpreted like that. But his pride would not allow him to simply apologize. Naruto may have been attractive, but he was not worth lowering his pride to apologize.

So instead, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and said, "I'm not trying to _buy_ you," as if the thought disgusted him, which it did, and continued, "the donation was for my poor behavior last week. It has nothing to do with my wanting to ask you out on a date."

Naruto glared suspiciously at Sasuke, but then a couple exited the supermarket. So he ignored Sasuke and chirped, "Happy Holidays! Would you like to cast a donation?"

The couple looked between themselves before shrugging. Then the guy dug into his pocket and took out his wallet so he could donate a dollar.

"Thank you very much!" Naruto called after them and gave them a megawatt smile with a wave that was returned.

Naruto turned back to Sasuke, suspicious glare and all, and demanded, "Why are you still here?"

"Go out with me." Sasuke demanded once more.

"I already _told_ you I'm not someone who can be bought and I don't want your pity." Naruto hissed before his smile returned as a mother and child approached. "Happy Holidays!" He greeted, but let them pass him to the store. The little girl tugged on her mother's coat and said, "Elf!" to which Naruto smiled and waved.

The little girl and mother then moved to the side because more people were exiting the store.

"Happy Holidays! Would you like to make a donation?" Naruto asked in a cheerful tone.

As the people donated some spare change, Sasuke repositioned himself so that he would be next to Naruto rather than in front of him with the bucket in between them. After he moved, Naruto had tried to send him a glare and most likely tell him to move, but there was a child in the bunch who wanted to know if they could ring the bell with hand0painted hollies on it. So Naruto's expression morphed to one of the largest smiles Sasuke had ever seen on someone's face as the blonde knelt down and offered the kid his bell.

The kid rang the bell for a moment before their parents told them that it was enough. With a final wave to Naruto, and another dollar or two in the donation bucket, the people left.

Turning back to Sasuke with a huff, Naruto demanded, "Will you _please_ tell me _why_ you are still here?"

Sasuke sighed, "Look, I was not kidding when I told you that I want to take you on a date. My methods may have been misleading, but my intention is clear."

"Well you can shove all that up your—"

"ELF!" a little boy, no older than three shouted, as a family exited the supermarket.

As if on reflex, Naruto's smile spread across his face as he turned to the little kid. "Yes, I AM an elf!" he cooed to the kid.

"Mommy! Mommy! Elf!" The little kid shouted excitedly, pointing at Naruto.

Naruto looked up to the parents and greeted, "Happy Holidays! I already asked you last week to make a donation!"

"Yes, you most certainly did." The mother replied with a smile as she set her child on the ground.

Then the kid ran over to Naruto, who knelt down for him, and asked, "Do you know Santa?"

Naruto smiled as he reached out a gloved hand that the child accepted and answered, "Yes I do! IS there anything you want me to say to him?"

The child gasped and gaped at Naruto in awe before shouting, "I WANNA GAMEBOY 3DS!"

Naruto pretended to gasp, "Really? But have you been a _GOOD_ boy this year?"

The little boy bobbed his head up and down frantically, as if the speed would prove to the elf just how good he had been this year.

Naruto's smile returned tenfold as he said, "Then I'll make sure to let Santa know." Then as the child ran back to his parents, Naruto winked at them.

As the family was leaving, Naruto heaved a huge sigh and turned back to Sasuke.

"You're not leavin' until I say yes, right?" Naruto asked, somewhat bitterly.

Sasuke nodded the affirmative.

Naruto sighed again, then after a pause said, "_FINE_! Meet me from this address Monday at 5:30."

Sasuke nodded as he accepted the business card Naruto handed him, and said that he would be on time before he left, choosing to not incite any further annoyance.

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Monday December 11th, and Sasuke was leaving work early again.

He was not _excited_, per say. That is, he _had_ been looking forward to the date, but he would not go as far as to say that he was excited.

Sasuke was once again thankful that his brother did not work in the office as he did, because he was not in the mood to explain to Itachi just why he was leaving.

He _had_ to leave early! This was his first real chance to get into the blonde's pants and to show that he really was not as much of a jerk as he had been on that Saturday…well, maybe he was, but he had not meant to be at that moment.

So he just could not jeopardize this on the off chance that there was terrible traffic! He could not afford to be late. So he left an hour early.

But before he left, Sasuke had used Mapquest as well as Google Maps to double check the fastest way to get to the given address—Yamanaka Florists—from the office. The map said that it would not take more than half an hour, but Sasuke would not be taking any chances.

Sasuke was leaving early when that damn receptionist called after him, "Merry Christmas!" in a sultry tone. Sasuke had to resist openly growling at her.

No matter how attractive a certain elf may be, Sasuke still hated Christmas. He had been successful in keeping it out of the office, though, so that was definitely a plus. Of course, he could not keep the random employee from wearing what some would call a 'festive' tie, as long as it was only a base color. He could, however, make damn sure that no one wore openly festive ties with Christmas designs, and _especially_ make sure that no one came to work wearing any annoying Christmas accessories. One employee had—they wore reindeer horns—and they found their accessories to in the trash within ten minutes.

He had seen on Google maps that Yamanaka Florists was in a denser part of the city, squished between other stores, so there was no parking lot available and only scarce parking along the street. Naturally, he had found the closest parking garage, but he had hoped that his arriving about half an hour early would allow him a parking spot lest he have to walk the ten minutes back to the garage with Naruto. Not exactly the best way to start off a date.

As Sasuke drove through the city, he could feel himself getting more and more annoyed. The reason? Simple. Because of all the damn Christmas decorations all over the place! There might not be as many Santas as there would be in more residential areas, but plenty of stores had them waving at customers from windows. There were also 'classic characters' like reindeer and snowmen here and there as well. But the most prominent decorations were garlands and Christmas lights.

Maybe it _could_ be interpreted as 'pretty', but it was impractical and just unnecessary; not to mention annoying.

Thankfully, traffic was not terrible and Sasuke was able to arrive at his destination around five o'clock. He held back a groan when he saw red flowers, yellow flowers, and white flowers by the windows in an obviously festive way.

He had time, so Sasuke decided that he would circle around the block for parking spaces. It took over ten minutes, but he finally found one.

With twenty minutes to go, Sasuke waited in the car. He had to keep the radio on—a news station—because in the streets of the city Christmas Music was blaring, and apparently only Sasuke had a problem with that. He had even seen some people singing, or at least mouthing, along with the songs. He had tried tuning the radio to a classical music station, but it seemed that the station had something against him as it was playing the Nutcracker Suite, and his other usual classical music station was playing 'Christmas Canon' by the Tran Siberian Orchestra, which really should be labeled as a Christmas song at all.

When it was ten minutes to the appointed date time, Sasuke got out of his car. He was hit by the full blast of Christmas songs being played—All I Want for Christmas is You—and he tried his best to ignore it.

He was at the entrance of the flower shop with five minutes to spare. And there was Christmas music playing. Great.

When the bell tingled, he heard, "Just a minute!" from a female voice.

He did just that and for the first time, Sasuke wondered just why Naruto would ask Sasuke to pick him up at a flower shop? Was it some sort of hint? Was Naruto saying that he wanted Sasuke to buy him frickin' roses before they go on a date?

Before Sasuke could think of anything else, a noise had drawn his attention towards the counter in the back. A girl with blue eyes—not as bright as Naruto's—long, blonde hair—not as bright as Naruto's—stepped out from the back. She was dressed in what Sasuke would describe as a slutty Santa suit.

"Can I help you?" the girl asked in the same sultry tone as the receptionist back at Sasuke's office always directed at him; _why_ did women think that was sexy? It just made them sound like they were idiotic and had forgotten about logic or even the dictionary at times.

"INO!"

Halleluiah! Sasuke never thought that he would be as happy to hear Naruto's voice as much as he did at that moment.

"Ino!" Naruto repeated, stepping outside and wearing _another_ elf costume but this one was more fitting, "What are you doing flirting? You have a boyfriend!"

"That doesn't mean I can't keep flirting! Shikamaru is totally fine with it!" Ino retaliated.

Not looking over at Sasuke, Naruto gestured towards him and said, "Even _if_ Shikamaru is 'fine' with you flirting, THIS guy might not be! What if he takes you seriously? All you'd do is crush his spirit! And so close to Christmas!"

Ino looked like she was going to retaliate, but Sasuke cut her off, "You do not have to worry about that."

Both blondes whipped to face him. The girl—Ino apparently—looked a little miffed at what he said, but Sasuke was not paying attention to her. He was paying attention to Naruto's reaction, which was thankfully not a glare. Rather, a mix of recognition, and confusion.

"You came?" Naruto asked, forgetting that Ino was there.

"Obviously." Sasuke replied.

"NARUTO! You _know_ him?!" Ino demanded, latching herself onto Naruto's arm and tugging insistently on his sleeve, all the while staring at Sasuke.

"Uhhh—" Naruto said, but what cut off.

"I'm taking him on a date." Sasuke explained.

"Which is why I need to get ready!" Naruto shouted as he dislodged himself from Ino's grip and disappeared to the back.

Ino's expression was stuck on shock, until what seemed like a glimmer of recognition appeared. "Ohhhh! So YOU'RE the one who bribed and blackmailed Naruto into a date!"

Sasuke glared a little, which made Ino sheepish, "No. I'm the one who _asked_ Naruto on a date."

Recovering quickly, Ino leaned on the counter and scrutinized Sasuke. "Wow, you're WAY cuter than I thought you'd be! I was imagining either some fat dude desperate for a date or some major creeper!"

Sasuke did not reply.

"You know," Ino mused, holding a finger to her cheek, "he really didn't think you'd come."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Encouraged, Ino continued, "Yea, yea! He totally thought that you were just messing with him and did not think you would come."

"Is that so…" Sasuke said.

Before Ino could say anything, Naruto burst out from the back. "Okay!" he shouted, jumping over the counter, "I'll seeya Thursday. Love ya!" He then grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him outside the shop.

Once they were outside, Naruto immediately dropped Sasuke's arms and stuffed his hands inside his pockets of his red jacket. He turned to face Sasuke with a questioning look, to which Sasuke pointed down the street because Naruto wanted to know where the car was parked.

The walk to the car was silent apart from the Christmas songs blaring throughout the city—Silver Bells—and Sasuke found himself very thankful that he had found a parking spot along the street rather than in a parking garage.

Sasuke was normally one for silences, but Naruto's silence seemed a bit…unnatural.

So to break this unnatural quiet, Sasuke asked, "Was I supposed to buy you flowers?"

Surprised by this, Naruto asked, "What?" as he turned to give Sasuke a confused expression.

Smirking, Sasuke explained, "I assumed that you were hinting that you wanted flowers since you told me to pick you up at a flower shop."

Naruto shook his head, "No, that's where I work part time."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Another job?"

Naruto glared at him and said, "Yes. I have TWO jobs. But I suppose that wouldn't matter much to _you_ and your 'hard earned money'."

Sasuke sighed, "I did not mean to say that."

"Yes you did." Naruto immediately retorted, but then his tone and glare softened the tiniest of bits and said, "But I'm sure you were just frustrated at something."

"Yes, I was." Sasuke confirmed.

He was about to explain why he was so frustrated when Naruto cut him off, "Oh, by the way, this date can't last more than two hours."

Caught a little off guard, Sasuke asked, "Why?"

Naruto shrugged and replied, "Because I havta be at work at seven thirty."

"At the flower shop?" Sasuke asked.

"No," Naruto shook his head, "back at Ichiraku's Market."

The two got in the car and began to head down to an Italian Sasuke had picked out for their date due to its semi-formal nature where one could easily wear a suit or jeans as he and Naruto were.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed, "So why were you so frustrated that you used me for your Chain of Screaming?"

Sasuke sighed as he made a left turn, "Christmas."

"What?" Naruto asked, his voice full of confusion.

"Christmas." Sasuke repeated, "The whole holiday annoys me. It starts too early, it was overly commercialized, kids get whinier and louder, and people expect 'Christmas Spirit' from each other as if it is a requirement. You demanding for money just put me over the top."

Naruto was silent for a moment, then apologized. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"No need." This time, Sasuke cut _Naruto_ off. He was back in his element of being the one apologized to, "It was not your fault."

The rest of the car ride went along quite swimmingly, at least in comparison to all of their earlier encounters. The two indulged in small talk and learned about each other's respective work environments. Apparently, Naruto had worked at Ichiraku's Market part time when he was fifteen, but turned full time after high school. He also worked at Yamanaka Florists part time, mostly as a favor to his friend Ino so she would not die of boredom and as a favor for her parents and boyfriend to keep an eye on her.

When they reached the restaurant, Sasuke had to repress a sigh. There were more Christmas decorations. This time, it was Santa and his sleigh on top of the restaurant.

Apparently, he did not hide his repressed sigh as well as he had thought because Naruto asked, "Whatsup?"

Sasuke shook his head and led Naruto inside. Thankfully, there was no Christmas music playing inside, but unfortunately, there were much garland and Christmas lights.

After they took their reservations and had been seated, Naruto asked, "So whatsup with the whole sighing and pouty face?"

Slightly affronted, Sasuke said, "I do not have a pouty face."

Naruto laughed, a highly infectious laugh that reminded Sasuke as to why he was determined to go on this date. "Oh puh-lease!" he said, "It may not have been a pouty face by normal standards, but it was deeefinitely pouty!"

Sasuke mock glared at him, but did not refute Naruto.

"But you didn't answer my question." Naruto reminded as he looked at his menu.

Sasuke replied, "I already did. This whole holiday annoys me."

"For real? Even beautiful decorations like this?" Naruto gestured towards the garlands intertwined with lights.

Sasuke nodded in confirmation.

Naruto shook his head and said, "Dude, you got problems. I can totally see you going all 'Bah Humbug' all over the place."

"Oh really?" Sasuke asked, smirking and amused.

Naruto nodded, "Totally. I'm sure you hang out with Scrooge and the Grinch at your boring office so you guys can plan new ways to steal Christmas and all that jazzy stuff."

"And if we do?" Sasuke asked, genuinely amused.

"Then we will stop you!" Naruto declared, pumping a fist into the air.

"'We'?" Sasuke repeated.

Naruto nodded, "Me and the other elves. I _am_ an elf, you know." Then Naruto ripped off his red jacket in a dramatic fashion to show his flower shop uniform top: red and white striped shirt with a green vest.

Sasuke actually had to hold back a snort of laughter. Other patrons were not as subtle as he, though.

Naruto sat back down and declared, "And we WILL save Christmas and make sure EVERYONE can enjoy it."

Sasuke grinned in a slightly sadistic way and asked, "You really believe that?"

Undeterred, Naruto nodded and said, "Yeppers! We were able to make Scrooge and the Grinch enjoy Christmas and we'll get you too!"

"Doubtful." Sasuke muttered under his breath as he turned his attention to the menu.

"You just lost your Christmas Spirit." Naruto declared; apparently Sasuke's mutter was not as quiet as he had thought. "And I'll help you find it."

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Thursday, December 13th and Sasuke was going to surprise Naruto at work.

Monday's date had gone so well that the two had exchanged numbers and had been meeting up intermittently for the past two days. It was nothing major, just a coffee before Sasuke's job at Ichiraku's Café, and Naruto driving them to a fast food restaurant between his two jobs.

But Sasuke did not count those as dates, so he wanted to surprise Naruto at work and then take him on another proper date.

When he entered Ichiraku's Market, he saw that once again, Ayame's register was empty. Well, almost. She was helping someone, but there was no one else in line after that. So Sasuke waited until they were done until he walked up to the register.

"Oh! It's you!" Ayame exclaimed, downright giddy at his arrival.

Sasuke nodded and asked, "Is Naruto here?"

Ayame's head bopped up and down the force that she was nodding her head. "Yea! He's on his break now, so he's at the café!" she practically shouted.

Sasuke nodded and headed straight away for the café portion of the supermarket. When he got closer, he saw Naruto on his phone sitting at one of the Christmas decorated tables.

Sasuke first went up to the counter and ordered a coffee for himself and a hot chocolate for Naruto, like how he had remembered Naruto grabbing for himself the first time Sasuke had visited him at work. When he had received his orders, he walked over to the back table where Naruto was sitting.

"What? But this has always been our tradition!" he exclaimed into his phone.

Sasuke sat the opposite of Naruto and placed the hot chocolate in front of the blonde. Naruto looked startled, but saw who it was and mouthed 'thank you'. Then he returned to his phone call.

A female voice from the phone said, "What's the big deal? It's not like we don't already know the play by heart."

"But it's tradition!" Naruto repeated, "You and I go see her play, and then she and I go see _you_ in the Nutcracker!"

Sasuke heard the female voice saying, "But C'mon, Naruto! I've been dating him for like, three months! Besides! You two are tight!"

"I'm _not_ in the mood to be a third wheel during our tradition!" Naruto argued back.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this while he sipped his coffee. Noticing this, Naruto held the phone away from his ear and explained, "Ino and I always go to our friend Sakura's opening night of The Christmas Carol together, but this year she wants to invite her boyfriend, Shikamaru with us."

"Yeah…about that…I kinda sorta already did…" Ino's voice sounded from the phone in between the two men.

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted at the phone.

Sasuke could hear nervous laughter over the phone, then Ino cleared her voice and said, "Hey, who did you just explain that to?"

"Sasuke." Naruto replied shortly as he took a sip of his hot chocolate.

"OHMIGOSH THAT'S PERFECT!" Ino's voice shouted, making Naruto and Sasuke wince, "You can invite _SASUKE_ to come with us!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow again while Naruto flushed. The blonde then frantically spoke into the phone saying, "Are you kidding? First of all, the play is _tonight_ and I don't think that we could get a last minute ticket to The Christmas Carol opening night production! And even if we could, I already told you that Sasuke hates Christmas!"

Ino's voice over the phone scoffed and said, "And you _also_ said that you would help him 'find his lost Christmas Spirit', didn't you?"

Naruto flushed redder than his decorated uniform vest and mumbled, "Maybe…"

"Then it's decided! I'll call up Sakura so she can get us an extra ticket!" Ino's voice cheered.

"Hey! I never agreed to this plan!" Naruto argued into the phone, "And doesn't Sasuke get a say in this?"

Ino laughed loudly over the phone and scoffed, "Please." Then she hung up.

Naruto stared numbly at the phone before looking up at Sasuke and weakly asking, "So…you wanna go on a double date to The Christmas Carol?"

Surprising himself, Sasuke said, "Yes."

Naruto gaped at him for a moment, wide eyes and mouth open, and said, "Wait—really?"

Sasuke nodded and explained, "I actually came here to invite you on another date, so I guess this is it."

Naruto could only gape at him. Then his phone started beeping at him. Distractedly, he pressed the 'off' button. "My break is over…" he mumbled. He then shook his head and said, "Uh, if you're really coming, meet us at the theater at seven, okay? I'll text you the address later…"

Sasuke nodded, then assured, "I will be there."

Naruto nodded. Then he gulped the last of his half a cup of hot chocolate, which had cooled off a little. "Cool, I'll walk you out then."

As the two walked to the store exit, they heard a squeal. They turned around and saw Ayame waving at them. Naruto flushed once more while Sasuke smirked.

While Sasuke was home at his penthouse apartment, he did not do much. He mostly read a book while occasionally checking his phone for a message either confirming or denying his coming to the play. Even though he loathed the play, he found himself to be quite excited to be going with Naruto…not so much Ino and whatshisname.

Finally, around five thirty, he got a text message that read, "Sakura got u a ticket. Meet us 7' along with the address to some local theatre.

Sasuke returned to his book for half an hour. Then, at six, he left his apartment to start driving to the theatre. He had a GPS on his phone, so he was not worried about directions.

When he arrived there, it was six forty-five, but Sasuke did not wait in the car. He found a parking spot and decided to wait in the lobby.

As he waited, he noticed many of the female population trying to catch his eye. Great. They probably assumed that he was single since he was not obviously with anyone. It was very annoying. That, coupled with all of the holiday decorations and soft Christmas music made Sasuke very annoyed.

"Sasuke!"

Annoyance gone.

Sasuke turned to see Naruto rushing towards him while wearing a black suit, white shirt, and highly decorative holiday tie. "You came!" he sounded delightfully surprised.

"Of course I came." Sasuke replied.

Naruto blinded him with a smile. Then he seemed to remember something so he turned around and waved.

Sasuke leaned to see just what Naruto was waving at, and saw that it was that Ino chick from the flower shop—in a purple dress this time—dragging a brunette man with a ponytail and bored expression behind her.

When the two reached them, Naruto said, "Well, let's go get our reservations!"

The two blondes then dragged their respective dates to the front desk, where a woman led them to their seats. As they situated themselves, the woman winked at Sasuke, which surprisingly made Naruto scowl a little.

Feeling heartened at the idea that Naruto was maybe jealous; Sasuke took the blonde's hand and whispered, "She's not as hot as you are."

Naruto flushed deeply before ripping his hand out of Sasuke's grip, "Sh-shut up! I wasn't je-jealous!"

Sasuke simply smirked.

Naruto grumbled something, then started feeling around his seat. "Hey Ino, did that chick give us our programs?"

Ino, who was whispering something into her date's ear, snapped her head to Naruto and began rummaging around herself as well. "Ohmygosh! I think she forgot!"

Naruto groaned, "Now we havta get up and get them ourselves."

"What's the big deal?" Ino's date asked, "You two have been coming to the play for years. Don't you know the program by heart by now?"

Ino shook her head and groaned, "Shikamaruuuu."

Ino's date—Shikamaru—raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her.

Then Naruto explained, "It's a part of our tradition. But more importantly: Sakura wants us to see her name in the program."

Shikamaru shrugged. Then Naruto stood up to get the programs.

Sasuke would have followed, but Ino held onto his sleeve.

"So Sasuke," she said.

Sasuke turned to give her an annoyed expression. But unfortunately, it was lost upon the couple.

"How serious are you about our little Naruto?" Ino asked.

Before Sasuke could answer, Shikamaru cut in and said, "Knock it off, Ino."

"What?" she demanded, turning around to face her boyfriend, "I'm Naruto's friend and this needs to happen! Naruto is deceivingly sensitive and it's our job to protect him!"

"It's only their second date, Ino." Shikamaru argued back, sounding tired, "The only thing you're doing is scaring him off."

"But! But!" she stuttered, but Shikamaru sighed and muttered something. Then he placed a hand on her arm and said, "Just give him the threat."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this.

But Ino's eyes lit as she nodded. She intertwined her fingers with Shikamaru's as she turned again to face Sasuke. Giving him a glare, she said in a dark tone, "If you hurt Naruto, I swear I will cut off your testicles and keep them in a jar to remind myself of your lost power."

Sasuke luckily did not need to answer because Naruto had returned.

"Hey! What were you guys talking about?" he asked as he sat down and handed Ino a green program.

"Oh nothing!" Ino smiled widely. Then she elbowed Shikamaru in the gut.

"UMPH!" he grunted. Then he glared at her before saying, "Yep. Nothing."

Naruto glared at the both of them suspiciously before turning to Sasuke, "They didn't say anything weird, did they?"

Sasuke shook his head no. Then he asked what part this 'Sakura' played.

Naruto's eyes lit up as he opened the program, "She plays Mrs. Fezziwig!" He pointed at the name 'Sakura Haruno'.

Then the lights started to dim, so Naruto needlessly 'shush'ed, despite the fact that it was he who was speaking.

The play was amusing, or at least not as annoying as Sasuke thought it would be. He was actually having a right good time sneaking glances of Naruto, who was at the edge of his seat and reacting to everything.

Sasuke was surprised, however, to see that this Sakura had pink hair.

Though Sasuke knew the plotline of this play—it _was_ a classic after all—he was surprised by just how much detail went into the production. The theatre house was by no means extravagant, but somehow, with the amount of passion that went into the play, Sasuke felt as if he was seeing a professional play. But at the same time, it felt more homey and slightly more enjoyable than professional plays as the actors would infrequently wink or otherwise acknowledge audience members, who obviously loved it.

Especially Naruto, whose rich, infectious laugh could be heard every time this Sakura chick— or the other actors who Naruto clearly knew— acknowledged him. It was genuinely amusing to watch.

After the play was over, Sasuke was preparing himself so that he could leave, for he was not one for public gatherings, even when they were business-related. However, Naruto seemed to have different plans. The blonde grabbed hold of the Uchiha's arm and dragged Sasuke to the reception area of the theatre to speak with the actors.

So there he was, arm being held by Naruto, trying to ignore Naruto and Ino jabbering away with Sakura. That was, until his name was brought up.

"…so Naruto said he didn't want to be third wheel, so that's why Sasuke is here!" Ino exclaimed, gesturing towards said Sasuke.

"Ohhhhh, so THIS is the guy I needed to pull a last minute favor ticket for?" Sakura said, her green eyes scanning Sasuke's body up and down.

"Yep! The same Sasuke who picked Naruto up from the shop for their date and who apparently visited him at Ichiraku's just to surprise our little Naruto!" Ino gushed.

"Awwwww that's sooooooooooooo sweet!" Sakura squealed.

Naruto groaned and let go of Sasuke's arm to bury his face into his hands. "C'mon, let's go." He grabbed Sasuke's arm again as he tried to lead him away.

"C'mon, Naruto! We're just teasing!" Ino and Sakura called after them.

"And Merry Christmas to you too!" Naruto called back.

As Sasuke took the lead to his car so he could drive Naruto back to the blonde's apartment, he was surprised to realize that he had not been annoyed by the play at all. And that his favorite part of the evening was when he and Naruto had intertwined hands as they walked to the car.

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Wednesday December 18th, and Sasuke was one again surprising Naruto at work.

The weekend had been amazing. On Friday, after Naruto's shift at Ichiraku's Market, the blonde had taken Sasuke to a friend named Chouji's family's bakery where he had shown Sasuke how to properly make Christmas cookies. Apparently, that had been another one of Naruto's Christmas Traditions with his friends, but unlike others, this one was the more the merrier.

Sasuke was surprised to find himself having _fun_ while baking cookies. It was not the actual cookies that was fun, not the sheer abundance of Christmas crammed into one room, and _certainly_ not Sakura and Ino who kept pointing periodically at himself at Naruto. But the fun part was spending time with Naruto and what an adorable mess he was when he was covered with flour.

He had wanted to spend the day with Naruto either Saturday or Sunday, but Naruto was dutifully stationed at his green donations bucket whilst uniformed in an elf costume during the days.

So Sasuke settled for inviting Naruto to his apartment Sunday night. While he would have preferred to spend the evening in bed, he and Naruto spent the evening either in the kitchen making dinner, in the dining room eating said dinner, or in the entertainment room watching Christmas Specials as Naruto insisted on watching a movie called Elf.

Again, Sasuke was surprised to find himself having fun. Will Ferrel's performance was alright, but Naruto's performance while quoting the lines was much more amusing. Almost as amusing was Naruto jumping up and down before muting the TV whenever he had a fun fact about the movie, such as the snowman in the North Pole being the same snowman that narrated Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and that Zooey Deschanel's elf costume at the end of the movie was the same as the female elves' costumes in the same Rudolph movie.

He had even gotten a kiss after driving Naruto back home.

Monday, Naruto had surprised Sasuke by going all the way to Sasuke's office to drop off a coffee from the café. When asked, Naruto just shrugged and said that he just wanted to.

Tuesday, Naruto and Sasuke had another fast food restaurant date as Naruto needed to hurry between his two jobs.

Now, on Wednesday, Sasuke was once again surprising Naruto at work. He had arrived around the same time he had on last Thursday, hoping that Naruto would be on his break again.

Like on the other days, Sasuke walked up to Ayame's register. Ayame, like on the other days, squealed as he arrived and said, "He's on his break now and in the café."

Sasuke nodded his thanks, and Ayame winked in return. Thankfully, it was not in a seductive way but in what she must have assumed as a secret-between-them way. Annoying, but manageable in comparison to the winks Sasuke usually received.

He headed to the café, and saw that once again Naruto was at the back table on the phone. So, like last time, Sasuke walked up to the counter and ordered himself a coffee—they were growing on him—and Naruto a hot chocolate. He then walked up to Naruto's table and handed him his drink.

Naruto accepted the hot chocolate with a silent 'thank you' and a wink; much more attractive than the one Ayame gave him. Naruto then drank a sip and smiled his radiant smile.

But then he had to put the drink down so he could groan, "Awwww c'mon! First Ino and now you!"

'Who?' Sasuke mouthed.

'Sakura' Naruto mouthed back.

Sasuke nodded and then took another sip of his coffee, preferring to not get involved with the other half of what he dubbed 'the crazy twins'.

Naruto covered his eyes with his hand in a very tired way as he said, "What is it with you and Ino destroying our traditions?"

"Not destroying; _expanding_!" Sakura's voice sounded over the phone.

"But we've been doing this for years! Ino and I see your play together, and then you and I see Ino's play together!" Naruto argued back.

"And we'll still be doing that! But with more people!" said Sakura over the phone.

"You only got _three_ tickets." Naruto sounded exasperated, "And I already told Ino that I have no interest of being third wheel! I don't even know who your date even is!"

"Who said the third ticket is for me?"

Naruto's hand left his face as he stared passed Sasuke in a confused and somewhat shocked expression, "What?"

"I got the extra ticket for Sasuke!"

Naruto stared at Sasuke, who stared emotionlessly back.

"Uhhh…why?" Naruto asked in a somewhat shocked tone.

"DUH! Because you too are just sooooooooooooo cute!"

Naruto held the phone away from himself, stared at it, stared at Sasuke, then back at the phone.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, causing Naruto to stare at him again, and nodded his head. Naruto then raised his eyebrows, eyes open wide, as a silent way to ask 'for really?'. Sasuke then nodded his head once more before drinking his coffee once more.

Naruto's eyes were still wide as he said into the phone, "Ok…Sasuke says its alright…"

"OMIGOSH THAT'S GREAT!" Sakura screamed through the phone.

"Uh-huh…" Naruto said distractedly into the phone before hanging up. Then he turned to Sasuke and asked, "Do you really want to go?"

To which Sasuke answered, "If you ask one more time, I'm revoking my answer."

Naruto immediately held up his hands in a truce gesture. Then, to change the subject, he asked, "So whatchya doin' here?"

In response, Sasuke shrugged and said, "I just felt like it."

Naruto smiled and leaned over the table to give Sasuke a kiss.

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Sunday December 23rd, and Sasuke was spending the evening at Naruto's apartment.

The invitation came as quite a surprise, actually, because Naruto had insisted that he was very busy all throughout the weekend—including Sunday night—when Sasuke had tried to make plans earlier.

But Naruto said that he was still busy, but he could do everything at home and had wanted to spend more time with Sasuke; especially after last Friday night.

Friday was the day that Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had gone to see Ino in The Nutcracker. According to the program, Ino only played a small part in the play—a sugarplum fairy—but according to Sasuke's two companions: this was still Ino's play. Sasuke had originally thought that he would simply go over business deals in his mind while his date and Sakura enjoy the play, but he found himself actually enjoying the Nutcracker; or at least watching Naruto enjoy the play.

Naruto was perpetually perched at the end of his seat, and would—silently—react to every piece or 'spectacular' dance move; causing Sasuke to whisper 'your gay is showing'. Naruto had hit him in the arm after that, and then continued hitting him on the arm to point out these 'spectacular' moments.

Thankfully, _that_ play did not have a reception area to 'meet the actors' like with the play Sakura was in. And Naruto had said that he had sent Ino a bouquet of flowers, as per tradition. Unfortunately, he and Sasuke were forced to spend quality time with Sakura, who insisted on asking about their relationship status. Fortunately, they were able to evade her questions by letting her squeal when they gave each other a peck on the lips.

But that was Friday, and now it was Sunday night, at Naruto's apartment.

Even though Sasuke had driven Naruto home to the apartment several times, now that he was inside it, he was surprised to find how incredibly _cheap_ it was. Naruto had claimed that it was 'homey' and 'quaint', but to Sasuke, it was just rundown and in the slums.

And even though Sasuke had his suspicions, he was very much unprepared for Naruto's apartment: it was a freaking winter wonderland. The windows and balcony were all laced with Christmas lights of all kinds; even ones shaped like icicles. His freaking _door_ was covered in wrapping paper and ribbon as if it was a present. And inside there were several Christmas trees; one large pine tree with fancy lights and glass ornaments, and several smaller fake trees with more personalized and less formal decorations. One even had pine cone ornaments.

Sasuke could see that Naruto was indeed busy, though not quite in the way that Sasuke had expected. The businessman had expected Naruto to be working out his schedules at his jobs, organizing his assets, or something thereof. But instead, Sasuke found that Naruto was working on…crafts.

Naruto was busy making decorative, festive, paper chains. He was also making Styrofoam Frostys, paper snowflakes, felt elf hats, and other homemade festive crafts.

"So, why are you even making these?" Sasuke asked as he picked up a toy Santa Naruto had obviously sewn.

Naruto smiled at him from the floor while surrounded by all of his crafts, and answered, for the orphanage!"

"Orphanage?" Sasuke repeated.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke on the couch, having looked down to grab some tape. "Oh, that's right! I never did tell you about the orphanage."

Sasuke silently gestured Naruto to continue.

Naruto resumed making paper chains with strips of red and green paper, and explained, "Well, I, uh, kinda was…_am_ an orphan, so I grew up in Hokage Konoha Orphanage. Long story short, Christmas kinda really sucked when I was younger. The older kids would always tell the truth about Santa to any new kid or younger kid, mostly to be mean but also to explain why we needed to make each other presents instead of some man in a red suit. We also didn't do the whole tree thing…there wasn't enough in the budget. So we barely had any real presents, and practically no decorations.

"So as I got older, I would make decorations for the other kids. You know, just paper-chain-bomb the doorways and make a cardboard tree. Later, after I got my part-time job at Ichiraku's Market as a bagger, I was able to afford a real…er, _fake_ tree, but a real-fake tree!" Naruto smiled and blushed a little at the oxymoron.

Then he started on a new chain and continued. "So as I got older, the more elaborate the decorating would get. And when I turned eighteen and had to move out, I started the donations bucket to help the orphanage's funds so the kids could get real presents. But I still come back to give totally decoration-bomb the place for traditions sake, you know? 'Cause when you don't have any family traditions, the ones you make for yourself are all the more important, ya know?"

Sasuke nodded. So _that_ was why Naruto kept insisting that going to the plays alone with Ino or Sakura was 'tradition'.

Naruto laughed, a somewhat forced laugh Sasuke observed, and gestured towards his finished chain, "So that's what all this is."

Sasuke nodded again, and, wanting to change the subject, he asked "Do you want to go anywhere tomorrow?"

Naruto, who had started yet another colorful chain, faced Sasuke and titled his head a little in confusion and asked, "Huh?"

Sasuke smirked at how adorable he found Naruto, and elaborated, "I want to take you on another date, so do you have any preferences or should I just surprise you?"

Instead of looking delighted, confused, thoughtful, or a combination thereof, Naruto shifted his eyes downward guiltily.

Confused himself, though never showing it outwardly, Sasuke asked, "What?"

Naruto tried to glance at Sasuke, but looked away guiltily again, and said, "I, well, um, well…you see…tomorrow is Christmas Eve…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and said, "And?" for he did not care about putting an inane name of the day before such an annoying holiday.

Naruto was still avoiding Sasuke's gaze and started fidgeting, "And…uh….and…Christmas Eve is the day that…uh…that I…Christmas Eve is the day that I go to the orphanage to set all this up…"

"Oh," was all Sasuke could say.

Naruto nodded somewhat regretfully, "Yeah…every year on Christmas Eve, I bring all these to the orphanage so we can all decorate for Santa, and I help the caretakers wrap the presents they were able to buy with the money from the donations. I also help take the present s down to the tree for the kids' Christmas morning so they can open their presents at about eight-ish, so I spend the night there."

"Do you also dress up as Santa?" Sasuke asked, as he could easily see Naruto dressing up as Santa Claus so that any children sneaking a peak would believe in that old fairytale.

Naruto shook his head, "Nope! I'm an elf!"

"Of course." Sasuke said. How could he have no have guessed? After all, Naruto was practically an elf every other day of the month.

"Iruka—oh, he's the caretaker—anyway, Iruka dresses up like Santa for when we bring the presents down to the tree. But we can't have Iruka dress up like Santa on Christmas because he needs to be in charge of the kids opening their presents, or else there'd be mayhem! He's the only one who'd be able to control that many kids at once. After all," Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "he was able to control me as a kid."

Sasuke nodded amiably.

"So, no Santa on Christmas?" Sasuke concluded.

Naruto shook his head again. "No Santa." He repeated for Sasuke.

"Oh…" Sasuke said again as he played with the little Santa doll in his hands.

Naruto nodded as he started yet another paper chain, "But I'm still dressed up as an elf." He then gestured towards yet _another_ elf costume. But this one was more of a festive version of what he thought was the costume of that sword-fighting elf of that video game named after some princess rather than the main character.

"But uh…" Naruto's voice distracted Sasuke from his musings.

But he paused, making Sasuke have to raise an eyebrow to urge Naruto to continue.

"But, if you are looking for plans…why not spend the next two days with your family?"

Sasuke was silent, and then answered, "Because I do not speak to my brother much anymore."

"What? Why?" Naruto asked, dropping his completed paper chain.

Sasuke shrugged, "We have not spoken much ever since our parents died."

"Oh…" Naruto's eyes were downcast.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, "it's not a big deal."

"But…but you have family!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke sighed, "And _you_ have more chains to make."

Naruto jumped before shouting, "YOU'RE RIGHT!" and restarted making festive paper chains with a renewed vigor.

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Monday December 24th, and Sasuke was at the front step of Uchiha Manor for the first time since he graduated high school.

He had surprised himself by waking up with the urge to follow Naruto's advice and spend the day with family. Well, not the _entire_ day, but maybe an hour to an hour and a half.

Even though he practically loathed his childhood home, he was thankful for one thing about it: there was not a Christmas decoration in sight. No Christmas lights outlining the house design. No overly-large bells hanging from windows or doors, as well as no Christmas wreaths. No inflatable Santas or Snowmen. No reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh. No outside Christmas trees. No Christmas anything. It was almost a breath of fresh air. Almost.

The youngest Uchiha took a deep breath before taking out his set of keys for the key to the mansion. Just because he no longer lived there did not mean that he did not keep the key.

After he entered, he walked past the drawing room to the parlor room, where he knew Itachi would be based on the smoke coming from the chimney he had seen as he entered the gates.

When he entered the room, he saw that the fireplace was indeed lit, and that his late father's chair was set in front of it facing the doorway with his older brother sitting in it, wine glass in hand.

"Hello, little brother. I've been expecting you." Itachi said.

Sasuke crossed his arms and said, "Oh really?"

Itachi shrugged and took a sip of his wine and replied, "One of the maids saw your car go past the gates and informed me. It was a quick setup to position Father's chair, and I already had the wine and fire."

"So you set that all up just so you could say a cheesy line?" Sasuke asked, somewhat incredulously.

"And you walked right into it." Itachi agreed as he stood up to place the chair back in its original position of pointing diagonally from the fireplace, just as their late mother's chair was on the other side of the fireplace.

"Just like Naruto…" Sasuke mumbled under his breath. He could very much see the blonde idiot arranging the exact plan, and even going so far as to spring for a white cat, _just_ so he could quote whatever movie that cheesy line came from, whatever that was.

"Was there any particular reason you are coming all the way here to the Manor?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke was about to reply something nonchalant like he just felt like it or make up some business excuse, but he was interrupted by a woman entering the room.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting," she said, but by the tone of her voice, it sounded like she was just saying that to be polite.

"You're not interrupting." Itachi replied. Since it was true, Sasuke felt no need to disagree with him or even through a glare at his older brother.

The woman nodded, but did not enter. In fact, she was dressed in a warm figure-length coat with matching scarf and hat as if ready to leave. "I just wanted to inform you that I'll be heading out for a bit. Father just called me and apparently Mother has just declared _another_ item as something she just _needs_ or else she'll _die_ or something as dramatic. I won't be gone long."

"Do you have any idea when you will be back?" Itachi asked.

"I'll only be an hour or so." The woman replied, checking her wristwatch.

"What about the traffic and last minute crowds? This _is_ Christmas Eve." Itachi asked in a somewhat challenging tone.

The woman shrugged and said offhandedly, "That won't be a problem." Then she left.

After she was gone, Sasuke asked, "Who was that?"

Itachi still had a smile from when she had shrugged at his comment and answered, "She is my fiancé."

If Sasuke was not an Uchiha, he would have spluttered or otherwise be flustered at this knowledge. But he was an Uchiha, so he replied, "Hn."

Itachi took a sip from his wine, then mused, "Maybe I should have told you…but then I did not."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted again, pouring himself a glass of wine and sitting in his late mother's chair. Once he was situated, he asked, "Is this one serious?"

Itachi nodded, not at all offended by the question as both business heirs knew about many other families who lost great portions of money and business because of family members marrying gold diggers who only revealed themselves after the marriage.

"She comes from old money herself so there is no fear there. We also met by chance and kept the relationship a secret for the first few months so there was no pressure from her parents." Itachi explained, not that he had to as Sasuke generally trusted his older brother's judgment.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted again, not really caring, but thankful that he would not be related to some gold-digging floozy, even by marriage.

"I'm even thinking about starting a family with her." Itachi announced.

THAT threw Sasuke through—an indistinguishable—loop. Itachi…starting a…family?

It took a moment before Sasuke asked, "And you would raise them…here?"

Itachi nodded and took another sip of his wine.

Sasuke could not imagine it. Children in the Manor again? _ITACHI'S_ children in the Manor?

The children would probably end up sneaking around like Itachi and Sasuke had when they were younger. They would look for secret passages in the old Manor and only find an old 'hidden' servant's quarters, which was really an extra closet the Uchiha ancestors had installed to hide away unwanted items.

During the spring, Itachi might make his children help out their mother with the personal garden, much like he and Sasuke had as children, or go 'explore' the outer garden. During the summer, the children might attempt to turn the fountain into a personal pool. During the fall, Itachi would most likely order the gardeners to rake all the leaves in one humongous pile for the kids to jump in as he once did for Sasuke the year before their parents had died. And during the winter…

During the winter, Itachi would most likely emulate Mother's traditional Christmas setup, completely transforming the family room to their –formal—winter wonderland. Itachi's children would most likely try to sneak a peak of their presents, but Itachi would set up some sort of barricade so the children would sent their most ninja-like sibling as a spy; just like Itachi had when they were young. Itachi would probably ask his wife to read the children 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' by the fireplace like their mother had when they were children. Itachi would also probably remove all time-telling devices from the children's rooms on Christmas Eve so they would not know when midnight would be, thus making them engage each other in an awake-a-thon. Itachi would also probably lock the master bedroom so the children would have to wait at the top of the barricaded stairs until Itachi and his wife were ready for Christmas…

…just like when Itachi and Sasuke were kids…

Sasuke's eyes widened.

He had just realized…that the _real_ reason he was so annoyed with Christmas—the reason he hated the holiday so much—was not because it was spreading like a pandemic, but because Christmas, much like this Manor, held some of the only truly happy memories he had with his family when his parents were still alive and they were still whole…

"Sasuke, tell me—" Itachi started to say, causing Sasuke to turn to face his older, now-engaged brother, "—do you have anyone special for you?"

"Special?" Sasuke repeated.

Itachi nodded, "Yes, little brother. Are you dating anyone or are otherwise infatuated with anybody?"

Again, Sasuke fell silent. He did not know if he would consider he and Naruto to be boyfriends. They were dating, yes, but they had never really spoken about their relationship enough to set down terms like 'boyfriends' for themselves; the most they really did about the subject was to avoid it whenever Sakura or Ino would bring it up.

But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be Naruto's official boyfriend. Naruto was unlike anyone else he had ever met; he was not out for Sasuke's money, to the point where he downright refused to accept Sasuke's charity money for himself or even let Sasuke pay for two dates in a row. Naruto was also not one for silences—_definitely_ not one for silences—and would fill up any silences with idle chatter that Sasuke found himself listening to. Naruto was also sociable, and would bring Sasuke along, but would not force Sasuke to contribute—too much—to conversations that Sasuke did not find any interest in. Naruto was also full of smiles.

Naruto also had the biggest heart Sasuke had ever seen. He had set up the donation bucket, made so many decorations, spent so much time, and was willing to dress up like the Christmas version of an effeminate video game character, all for the orphanage he had admitted to not having fun in as a child.

And the idiot was still searching for ways to improve other people's Christmas…

Sasuke then answered Itachi's question with a "Yes", before standing up.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

"Itachi." Sasuke said in return, "I need a favor."

**Lost Christmas Spirit**

The day was Tuesday December 25th, and Sasuke was outside the orphanage.

It was about nine thirty in the morning; about an hour and a half after Naruto had said that the children open their presents, and Sasuke guessed that they would have probably finished opening their presents by now; after all, they _were_ excitable children. So he knocked on the door and rang the doorbell.

Immediately, Sasuke could hear a chorus of voices asking if it really was the door being knocked, who was it, and who would get the door.

Then he heard the voice he wanted to hear—Naruto's—calling out to the little chorus that he would get the door.

Sasuke felt his pulse accelerate a little bit due to his being nervous, but he willed it to normal pace when by the time Naruto drew near.

When Naruto opened the door, he was speechless.

Because Sasuke was dressed up in a Santa Suit. And Naruto was dressed in a red and white striped long sleeve undershirt, a green tunic with matching long green hat and matching green boots and long red and white striped socks.

After a few moments of silence between them, Naruto cleared his throat and asked, "So, uh, what's going on here?"

Knowing that he would never be able to say this if he did not say it now, Sasuke said, "You were right when you had said to me that I had lost my Christmas Spirit."

Naruto looked confused, but Sasuke continued, "While visiting my brother yesterday, I realized that the reason I hated Christmas was because it reminded me too much of the happy memories I had with my family when we were young, and after my parents died, I lost my spirit."

Naruto looked like he was going to say something, but Sasuke cut him off, "But you helped me find it again."

"I…I did?" Naruto asked, somewhat in shock from Sasuke had just announced to him.

Sasuke nodded and gestured towards his suit, "So I wanted to thank you. But knowing you, you probably would not accept any extravagant gift, no matter how much you deserve it, so I decided that the best way to thank you would be to wear this, and let the orphans see Santa on Christmas."

Naruto's blue eyes were glittering with unshed tears and was rendered speechless. Then, after a moment to wipe his eyes, Naruto pointed up and whispered, "Mistletoe."

Sasuke smirked as he removed his fake beard so he could give the elf a kiss under the mistletoe.

After their kiss, Sasuke whispered to Naruto, "Be my boyfriend."

Naruto mutely nodded and pulled Sasuke in for another kiss.

But all too soon, he heard the little chorus of voices shouting out questions to Naruto like what was taking him so long or if there was any trouble out there, but the majority were calling for him to hurry up and come back to them.

Naruto broke the kiss and smiled at Sasuke. Then he tugged the beard back into place before taking hold of Sasuke's hand and leading him back into the orphanage. "Coming!" Naruto called back, "And I have a _BIG_ surprise for you!"

Naruto did not give the little chorus of voices any chance to ask what before he dragged Sasuke into the room, which looked like an extension of the Winter Wonderland in Naruto's apartment.

As soon as Sasuke in his Santa Suit entered the room, the children went ecstatic.

They were screaming, some shouting out 'SANTA', some were yelling that they knew they saw Santa deliver their presents last night, and screaming in excitement and asking the other adult in the room if they knew about this.

As the excited shouting continued, Sasuke learned about himself that while he may no longer bear as much resentment towards Christmas, he still could not stand children; especially _loud_ children. But he decided that he would do this again and again if it meant that he could see Naruto smile this much again.

It was all worth it.

**The End.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

* * *

**And that was the story!**

**Phew! That took longer than I had thought! And to think! Last year I wrote a story that was just over 3,000 words, but THIS year, I accidentally wrote a 15,000+ word story…oops, haha. Oh well, consider it an extra-special Christmas gift from me. And I do not think that I need to bother with political correctness and wish ya'll Happy Holidays because you just read a friggin' long story about Christmas haha.**

**So one of my family's oldest traditions is one of our most hated in the past: Christmas morning. Or more specifically, the WAIT of Christmas morning. You see, my parents have a habit of locking the child gate at the top of the stairs as well as their door late Christmas Eve night, so as children, my siblings and I could not insist they wake up or break through the 'barrier'. So we waited. We would wait until about 10:00ish, then ONE parent would go downstairs to start up the coffee, but close the gate so we were still stuck! IT WAS TORTURE! Then, around 10:30 or 11:00, we could go downstairs.**

**We still keep the tradition, but my siblings and myself are teenagers + (my older sister and I being over 20) so we just sleep in until the given time. It is no longer torture, as we get a good night's sleep, and we have laptops with DVD players to entertain us now. But the tradition is still sentimental, even though we used to hate it very much.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS!**


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